Day 679: Cinematic Candy

originally published November 9, 2013 A long weekend shackled with sub-zero temperatures means a full-arm scoop of old movies to pass the hours. This is where problems arise – my years of scholastic film study have nurtured my snobbish instincts, thus distancing my criteria for an enjoyable feature from those of my family. Stupid and […]

Day 663: Movies For Those Who Hate Themselves

originally published October 24, 2013 Ever since I began working toward my vocationally hopeless major of film studies, friends and family began assuming that I would drift into the realm of the film hipster. That I would forego whatever movies won the weekend and instead find inspiration in the unfathomably absurd. I thought this too […]

Day 656: Hollywood’s Original A-List

originally published October 17, 2013 If you swim deep enough into the swampy murk of Hollywood’s trench-laden ego, you might come across a tiny pulse of insecurity. To have one’s performance captured on celluloid (or digital film, but that doesn’t sound nearly as romantic as ‘celluloid’) is to have a date with immortality. Humphrey Bogart’s […]

Day 630: Medic On The Set

originally published September 21, 2013 I respect the fact that a number of Jackie Chan films finish up with a blooper montage featuring a cavalcade of missed maneuvers and on-set accidents. The guy is so well-known for doing his own stunts (and shattering his own person-parts in the process) that every so often it’s announced […]

Day 615: Shooting Behind The Mouse’s Back

originally published September 6, 2013 I really don’t normally do this. Regular readers of this site (as well as those who regularly have it read to them – it’s perfect for putting the little ones to sleep!) know that I love to talk movies. Whether it’s awful movies, classic films, cinematic history, or even an […]

Day 603: FADE IN: INT. BOXING ARENA – DAY

originally published August 25, 2013 Given the relatively recent surge of interest in UFC and other grappling/kicking/semi-homoerotic-sweat-hugging mixed martial arts specials on pay-per-view, I suspect that the golden age of the golden gloves may have passed. I remember my dad pitching in with some friends to watch Mike Tyson fight Michael Spinks on pay-per-view – […]

Day 598: A Thousand Words, Part DXCVIII

originally published August 20, 2013 The trailer begins: “In a world… that looks strikingly familiar…” We exist in a vacuum of repetition. No less than 35 sequels are plopping their predictable posteriors into theatres in 2013. This is bankable income for Hollywood studios – they know we’ll drop thirteen bucks on Grown-Ups 2, if only […]

Day 591: A Difficult Film To Swallow

originally published August 13, 2013 Alright, I’m going to step right off the edge of the curb here and admit it: a couple days ago, I watched the seminal porno film, Deep Throat. Why did I do this? What could drive me to devote sixty-one minutes of my time to this piece of lurid – […]

Day 578: Rockin’ With The Ludicrously Tragic – Worst Films Part 6

originally published July 31, 2013 Back in the day when news was printed on paper and I wasn’t too tired to even lift my head in the morning let alone read something, I was a huge fan of movie reviews. I’d look forward to Friday, when all the week’s new releases would get treated to […]

Day 569: The Motion Picture Patents Company (Or How Thomas Edison Was A Dick About The Film Business)

originally published July 22, 2013 Ask any conspiracy nut – or in fact anyone who knows anything about the state of modern media, because in this case, the conspiracy nuts are bang-on correct – and they’ll tell you, a shockingly small number of companies control almost all the mass media that we as a culture […]